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 The longtime bassist for the
groundbreaking heavy metal outfit Black Sabbath, Terence "Geezer"
Butler was born July 17, 1949, in Birmingham, England. As a teen
he formed his first band, Rare Breed, with schoolmate John "Ozzy"
Osbourne; in the fall of 1968, the two reunited in the blues
quartet Polka Tulk, which also featured guitarist Tony Iommi and
drummer Bill Ward. After briefly re-christening themselves Earth,
the foursome adopted the Black Sabbath moniker in early 1969, at
Geezer's suggestion. While Black Sabbath's
self-titled 1970 debut laid the foundations for their deafening,
sludgy hard rock attack, the follow-up Paranoid was their
creative and commercial breakthrough, selling four-million copies
in the U.S. alone on the strength of fan favorites like "War
Pigs," "Iron Man," and the title track; though Osbourne was the
band's focal point, Butler wrote the songs' lyrics, drawing
heavily upon his fascination with the black arts to explore
recurring themes of death and destruction. During the latter half
of the 1970s, Black Sabbath's popularity dwindled, and in 1979
Butler briefly left the band; his return to the lineup coincided
with Osbourne's departure, although the group continued on with
new front man Ronnie James Dio. Butler again exited in mid-1984,
forming the Geezer Butler Band before reuniting with Osbourne in
1987. Butler re-joined Sabbath for 1992's Dehumanizer, but again
quit the group two years later; after another fling with
Osbourne, he formed G/Z/R, issuing Plastic Planet in 1995. The
solo Black Science followed in 1997. It was around
this time that Geezer returned again to Black Sabbath, for the
Ozzfest 97 tour, and has been involved with Black Sabbath since
this point on various Ozzfest tours. |
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